On October 14, 2015 student pharmacists and faculty attended the Annual Feurt Symposium. The University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Pharmacy welcomed Mr. Christopher Jerry from Cleveland, Ohio to discuss “The Emily Jerry Story – From Tragedy to Triumph.” Mr. Jerry is the current president and CEO of the Emily Jerry Foundation, an organization that is committed to saving lives by reducing preventable medical errors. After losing his daughter in a senseless and preventable tragedy, his genuine hope is to prevent any other family from enduring the pain he lives with every day. Following Mr. Jerry, John B. Hertig, PharmD, MS, presented “Integrating Medication Safety into Practice Advancement Efforts.” Dr. Hertig is a clinical assistant professor of Pharmacy at Purdue University College of Pharmacy and the associate director of the Center for Medication Safety Advancement in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The symposium honors the accomplishments of Dr. Dick Feurt, dean of the College from 1959 to 1975. On March 1, 1959, at age 36, Dr. Dick Feurt became Dean of the UTHSC School of Pharmacy. A native of Missouri and World War II veteran, he earned his BSPh degree at Loyola University of the South in New Orleans, and his MS and PhD degrees from the University of Florida. Prior to his UT tenure, Dr. Feurt was Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Georgia, where he was a co-inventor of the tranquilizer gun, a tool used in wildlife management. Dean Feurt’s accomplishments at are significant, including the change of the name to College of Pharmacy, recruitment of acclaimed educators and scientists to the College, new graduate programs in the pharmaceutical sciences, and the beginning of the PharmD program in 1968. He was described as “a young man, full of vigor, energetic, aggressive, bold, and seething with ideals.” He founded the Tennessee Pharmacy Tripartite Committee to bring the profession together in Tennessee. Dr. Feurt served as dean until his death on January 19, 1975. Because of their respect, members of the Tennessee Board of Pharmacy and Tennessee Pharmacists Association, in cooperation with the University, started the Seldon D. Feurt Memorial Fund to honor Dr. Feurt and provide private funding for scholarships, fellowships, research grants, and other needs of the College.